Ganguly all praise for debutant Yohannan

Bridgetown, May 30: India skipper Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday lauded debutant fast bowler Tinu Yohannan for setting up a seven-wicket win over the West Indies in the third one-day international here.

Yohannan finished with 3-33 off 10 overs in his first one-dayer to help India restrict the West Indies to a modest 186.

The tourists then scored 187-3 to win with 31 deliveries to spare for a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, with Dinesh Mongia making an impressive 74.

Both Yohannan and Mongia played their first big match in nearly two months as they could not find a place in teams for a recent five-Test series, won 2-1 by the hosts.

"Tinu bowled very well in this match," said Ganguly.

"He didn't play a lot of cricket in the last two months and it was good to see him keep a tight line and length. The pitch had a bit of carry in the morning and he bowled a very good line."

Yohannan, 23, had played just one game on the Caribbean tour, taking 3-84 in a three-day match against Busta XI at St Lucia last month.

Ganguly said fielding also was one of the reasons for India's victory.

"Young players lifted the fielding standards of the team in this game, but we've to do it consistently," said Ganguly

Five one-day specialists batsmen Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, all-rounder Ajit Agarkar and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik joined the Indian squad after the Test series.

Indian coach John Wright echoed the captain's sentiments, saying he had not seen his team field so well this year.

"We're getting fitter as a group," said Wright. "It's the best fielding side we've put out inside this year. Yuvraj and Kaif were outstanding. The guys have worked very hard on the tour."

Man-of-the-match Mongia said he was pleased with his first big knock outside the country.

"I'm happy with my first big score outside India and I'd like to win more matches for my team," said the 25-year-old, who smashed an unbeaten 159 in his last one-dayer at home against Zimbabwe.

West Indies captain Carl Hooper blamed batting for his team's dismal performance.

"We just didn't bat well," said Hooper. "It was certainly not the 180-odd pitch. It was a good wicket and we should have scored around 250. We then could have tried to defend that total."

Yohannan grabbed two wickets in his opening spell and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh one to reduce the West Indies to 53-3.

Hooper (76 not out) tried to prop up the innings with an 87-run stand for the fourth wicket with Ramnaresh Sarwan (44), but his effort failed to put his team in a comfortable position.

"The first three batsmen got themselves out," said Hooper. "It was very disappointing to lose Sarwan at a crucial stage as we had just started putting up a partnership. Nobody after Sarwan managed to hang around."

The West Indies were strongly placed at 140-3 before collapsing to 186 all out against a disciplined Indian pace-spin attack.

"We were just kind of flat after making 186," said Hooper.

"I don't know whether it's because of coming from the high of the Test series win. We had a couple of days off and guys put their legs up, so perhaps we lost a bit of momentum. But this is something we've got to learn from."